Summary of the Podcast: How not to pitch a Billionaire

Summary of the Podcast: How not to pitch a Billionaire
In the podcast, “How not to Pitch a Billionaire,” the main message that Alex Blumberg communicates is that there are serious challenges for new beginners who want to invest yet they do not understand business ideas. Blumberg communicates the point that it is never easy to come up with a successful business idea, yet good business people must be sensitive to the good ideas that can develop successful companies. According to Blumberg, meeting other business people and investors who have successful investments is an important to step towards a successful start-up. Chris Sacca is one of the business legends that influenced Blumberg’s ideas about the first company he developed. Bloomberg explains that Sacca invested in companies like Instagram, Twitter, and Kickstarter, and that such successful business people can be important sources of knowledge for beginners who lack business ideas.
The relationship between Blumberg and Chris Sacca is important for learning how to pitch successful businessmen. Sacca is a billionaire. Blumberg wants to become one. When he pitches Sacca for the first time, Blumberg does it wrongly. Blumberg narrates that the first pitch he makes to Blumberg was disastrous. He made the pitch, “Near a highway overpass along West Pico Boulevard, near Los Angeles,” (Blumberg 1). Blumberg learns from his mistake of wrong pitching. He explains that when he pitched Sacca wrongly, Sacca pitched him back in the right way as he should have pitched him. The important thing that Chris does, however, is listing all the reasons why he cannot invest in the company that Blumberg developed. Chris does not think that Blumberg’s company can be profitable because he lacks the correct strategies to execute his ideas (Blumberg 1).
At the end of the interaction between Chris and Blumberg, Blumberg says that he feels confused about the idea of his company. However, he also feels encouraged that Chris invites him back to come and pitch another successful investor, Matt Mazzeo. In other words, Chris learns the ways he can present his company ideas and the issues to focus on so that investors can buy his idea. People who want to start up companies should not expect investors to buy their ideas immediately. On the first instances, the investors may avoid buying the ideas but such rejection offers them an opportunity to learn about good business ideas.
One of the things that Blumberg learns from Chris is that conviction is an important thing for investors. Chris uses the case of his writing of the cheque worth 25,000 dollars to Twitter. Blumberg learns that he may have lost Chris’s investment in his idea because he lacked the conviction spirit that Chris talks about. In the podcast, Chris Sacca explains to Blumberg, “As any seasoned entrepreneur knows, a great idea is not enough to get you funding. You are selling yourself as much as you are selling your service,” (Blumberg 1). The podcast also portrays Sacca telling Blumberg that “He (Sacca) does not want to see Blumberg’s slide deck which could be a crutch,” (Blumberg 1). He also says that rather than seeing his slide-deck, he would go on a walk from his office. Sacca’s ideas make Blumberg feel thrown off, but he learns that it is not easy to get an investor who is ready to invest in your company. Pitching the investor correctly is the greatest way to get him buying your company’s idea.
Works Cited
Blumberg, Alex. “#1 How not to Pitch a Billionaire,” September 5, 2014. Web. November 20,
2014. http://hearstartup.com/episodes/1-how-not-to-pitch-a-billionaire